DEFORMATION OF SEISMIC WAVELETS BY THIN LAYERS AND LAYERED BOUNDARIES*

Using plane wave theory and assuming a given input wavelet the shape of the reflected (or transmitted) wavelet from a layered boundary is derived. Several types of boundaries are considered, among them the weathered layer and a wedge shaped intermediate layer. Different angles of incidence and all internal multiples are taken into account. The examples shown in the figures can be used for a direct comparison between theoretical and observed shapes of reflected (or transmitted) wavelets from special boundaries.     

SOME EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING THE PRIMARY SEISMIC PULSE*

Recordings were made with three types of detector of the primary compressional (P) and shear (S) wave pulses generated by explosions in boreholes. Charge weights varied from 0.08 kg to 9.5 kg and detector distances varied from about 3 m to about 80 m. Scaling by the simple factor W^1/3 where W is the charge weight, enabled observations from different sized charges to be fitted to a single expression. Experiments were carried out in the Bunter sandstone and the London clay and both fluid and solid tamping were used. This variation in tamping had no significant effect on the P-waves but it may have affected the generation of SV-waves. In both media the P-wave energy carried at 30 m from the shot by frequencies less than 100 Hz decreased rapidly with depth and was usually 1–2 % of the available chemical energy for a shot depth of 15 m. The S-wave energy was much less than this, but was highly directional. The P-wave pulse had the appearance of a damped sinusoid in very good agreement with the predictions of the ‘equivalent radiator’ hypothesis. However, the surface of this radiator should be identified not with the blown cavity but with the surface at which the tensile stresses associated with the stress wave become less than the tensile strength of the rock. The predominant frequency for a 1 kg charge at a depth of 15 m was 24 Hz in the clay and 52 Hz in the sandstone. In these and similar media, therefore, an effort should be made to keep individual charges less than 1 kg in reflection shooting and less than 10 kg in refraction shooting. The value of Q was about 50 in clay and about 25 in the sandstone. These estimates are rather uncertain because of the small distances over which the pulses were observed. The Z-transforms of the sampled pulses indicated that they were all of minimum phase, or very near to it.     

THE LAUSANNE CONGRESS

The International Society for Photogrammetry held the Xlth International Congress at Lausanne during July 1968. The authors review the activities of five of the seven I.S.P. Commissions.     

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC MEASUREMENTS OF GLACIAL LANDFORMS

Photogrammetric methods using sequential aerial photography can provide the geomorphologist with comparative measurements of rapidly changing glacial landforms. Examples are given of eskers, kame and kettle areas, an ice-dammed lake and coastal features in south-east Iceland.     

Redistriution of Major Elements in the Alteration of Some Basic Lavas during Burial Metamorphism

An Ordovician geanticlinal marine sequence is exposed in theCentral West of New South Wales, Australia. The sequence containingbasic lavas, labile sedimentary, and proclastic rocks, has undergoneextensive adjustment during regional burial metamorphism. Thebasic lavas have a patchy coloration due to the formation ofalternation minerals of the prehnite-pumpellyite facies whichapperar to have formed during the metamorphism. The hererogeneousappearance of the basic lavas reflects a pronouced chemicaland mineralogical departure from the original composition. Twodiverging trends result. One leads to the production of a Ca-enrichedlithology, the other, which by far dominates in area at eachouterop, leads to a ‘spilitic’ lithology. The alterationdomains in many cases cross–cut all primary textural featureand their chemical variation does not correspond to likely variationsin the original lava composition.     

The Origin of Associated Basic and Acid Rocks in the Lebombo--Nuanetsi Igneous Province, Southern Africa, as implied by Strontium Isotopes

Whole rock Rb–Sr measurements were made on associatedbasic and acid intrusives and extrusives from the northern andsouthern ends of the Lebombo monocline with a view to determineif the acid rocks came from the mantle or from the crust. Inthe south, in Swaziland (now called Ngwame) and Zululand, rhyolitesand granophyres (age 202 14 m.y.) have an initial Si⁸⁷–Sr⁸⁶ratio of 0.7042 0.0005; in the north, in the Nuanetsi syncline,rhyolites (age 206 13 m.y.) and granites from ring complexes(age 177 7 m.y.) have initial ratios of 0.7081 0.0008 and0.7085 0.0007, respectively. The initial ratios of the basicrocks, basalts and gabbros, vary in both areas and have a rangefrom 0.7042 to 0.7125 which can be explained by crustal contamination.The low initial ratios and isotopic homogeneity of the acidmagmas over long distances (160 km) in Swaziland and Zululandare interpreted as implying that they were derived from themantle.     

Microstructures of High-grade Metamorpbic Rocks at Broken Hill, Australia

Frequency distributions of true interfacial angles in high-grade,regional metamorphic rocks from Broken Hill indicate that interfacialtension varies with relative crystallographic orientation incommon minerals. In some single-phase aggregates (e.g. quartz,feldspar, garnet, and calcite) the grains are equant and polygonal,anisotropy of interfacial tension having only a small effecton the appearance of such aggregates. This is also true of two-phaseaggregates of these phases, but their appearance is complicatedby the presence of inclusions, the relative proportions of ihephases, and the characteristic dihedral angle formed by a grainof one phase in contact with two grains of the other. In phases for which interfacial tension is more orientation-dependent,crystal forms exert some control on the appearance of the microstructure.For example, in hornblende and pyroxene aggregates, some interfacesare parallel to planes of the form {110}, although most areirrational. In still more anisotropic phases, low-energy forms(e.g. {001} of biotite and {110} of sillimanite) are very stable,giving rise to a predominance of planar, rational boundariesover curved, adjustment boundaries. Anisotropy of interfacial tension is expressed in the shapesof inclusions. However, even where strongly anisotropic mineralsare involved, inclusions with partly planar boundaries occuralongside inclusions with completely curved boundaries.